1. Field of the Description
The present invention relates, in general, to aerial displays and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as multicopters, and, more particularly, to an aerial display system using UAVs to provide a synchronized aerial display with floating or flying projection screens and/or scrims.
2. Relevant Background
For many years, there has been continued interest in creating new ways to project light and imagery and to otherwise provide aerial displays. In many settings, a laser lighting display or laser light show may be used to entertain an audience using laser light. The projected laser light or laser beams may be set to or synchronized to music. Laser light has proven useful in indoor and outdoor settings because the coherent nature of laser light allows a narrow beam to be produced that can then be used with optical scanning to draw or project patterns or images on walls, ceilings, or other surfaces including theatrical smoke and fog without refocusing as is common with video projection.
More recently, it has become popular to create outdoor light shows or displays using buildings as projection surfaces. For example, a Symphony of Lights is a synchronized light and laser multimedia display that uses the exterior surfaces of forty-four buildings on both sides of the Victoria Harbor of Hong Kong for projection surfaces to create imagery that is accompanied by music. This large scale display has attracted over 4 million visitors and is held every night for over ten minutes. The show includes flashes of laser lights and projected color patterns along with sweeping search lights/projection lighting as well as stationary lights provided on the buildings themselves (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)).
The use of building surfaces allows a display designer to provide a large scale light show or projected display. However, there are major limitations to such a show as it requires use of display or projection surfaces that are fixed in size and location (e.g., static surfaces), and this fixed backdrop makes it very difficult to create new effects and shows and can only provide a limited aerial display (e.g., only can display to the height of the tallest available building) that may be detrimentally affected by features on or part of the building outer surfaces. Further, use of buildings as projection surfaces is only useful in certain geographical settings, such as within large cities near water or other open spaces, and is often inapplicable in many settings in which an aerial display is desired, such as over a sports stadium or theme park where no or few tall buildings may be present. As a result, there remains a need for new technologies for generating aerial displays such as a display involving projection of light and images into or out of the sky or an air space above an audience of spectators.